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PARIS, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The number of China's vineyards continued to grow in 2016, confirming its position as the country with the second highest surface in the world, the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) announced in Paris.

The total size of China's vineyards increased by 17,000 hectares in 2016 for a total of 847,000 hectares, while the wine-growing surface globally was stable at 7.5 millions of hectares, the OIV said in a report published Tuesday.

In the production sector, China reached 11.4 million hectoliters (hl) in 2016, down by about one percentage compared with the previous year, while world wine production in 2016 fell to 267 million hl, a decline of 9,300 hl compared to 2015, according to OIV.

Italy, France and Spain were the three biggest producers of wine in 2016, producing 50.9, 43.5 and 39.3 million hl respectively over the past year.

China consumed 17.3 million hl of wine in 2016, an increase of 6.9 percent compared to 2015, exceeding 17 million hl for the first time since 2012, the OIV said.

The United States, France and Italy are the three largest consumers of wine in 2016, with consumption of 31.8, 27.0 and 22.5 million hl in 2016, while world wine consumption is estimated at 242 million hl, a slight increase of 0.9 million hl compared with 2015, said the OIV, noting that the consumption figures should be considered with caution taking into account the margin of error concerning worldwide monitoring.